2009 AAW Symposium, Part II: Friday - 26 June

My first rotation was Friday morning, 9:10 to 10:40 a.m, followed by my second one 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. After I finished, I grabbed a quick bite of lunch and then took a walk through the instant gallery. Here's a selection of images for you to see.


vessel by Don Derry
















Glass and wood by Jim Keller















Anthony Harris had a sign next to this bowl of spheres, eggs, and threaded boxes that said, "Please touch!"









Since I had the afternoon free, I went with Paul and Judy Fennell over to Rio Grande - the best jewelry supply company you could ever meet. They have some of the most interesting gadgets that work very well for wood carving. This is their showroom. You can place your order from the catalog and they'll fetch everything to one of the counters here. I bought a bunch of earring supplies with the intent to play with some ideas for jewelry in the very near future.

I'm a trinket junkie myself - only with regards to dangling earrings, though. I know what I like to wear, I always receive compliments on my choice of earrings, and so I thought I might enjoy making some of my own design, in wood.




I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering through the exhibits that were taking place as part of the symposium. The first one I saw was by Merryll Saylan - this year's recipient of the POP merit award.










Merryll was a pioneer of surface enhancement techniques and coloring. I've long admired her work and it was a delight to see so many interesting pieces assembled for this exhibit.















The AAW has a catalog for each of the exhibits and you can find out more from going to their exhibit website: Gallery of Wood Art











The second exhibit I visited was "Twirlings" by Garry Knox Bennett. He has an interesting mind. . .















The bowl on the left is named, "Wired."












I thought this was an interesting concept, too.

















The POP exhibit this year was called, "Spindles."


This is by Louise Hibbert











Classic Jean François Escoulen (France)


















Ed Kelle

















Ray Key (England)




















Doug Fisher (Canada)


















John Wessels (South Africa)

















Emmett Kane (Ireland)


















J. Paul Fennell



















John Jordan
















The last exhibit to visit was "Spirit of the Southwest." Wow, four exhibits this year! That was amazing!


Todd Hoyer















Bernie Hryzak












Neil Kagan













Pascal Oudet (France)


















Clay Foster













Gerritt Van Ness













Bill Luce

















J. Paul Fennell


















David Nittmann











Ron Fleming


I posted many more pictures from these exhibits on my Facebook woodturning page.

Merryll Saylan and Garry Knox Bennett exhibits
Spindles and Spirit of the Southwest album











Time for another walk throught the instant gallery. Every year the entries are amazing.

This one is by Bill Luce, and it received an AAW purchase award.













A beautiful and delicate flower by Malcolm Zander. The thin walls on the original form are amazing, but to add the pierced design and assemble it into a sculpture makes this a stunning piece of eye candy.










This was one of my favorites in the instant gallery this year - a classic Binh Pho piece with the added carved textile effect.



















An ornamental rose engine wall hanging by Gorst duPlessis
















Another of my favorite pieces in the gallery, done by James R. Johnson.













And, here was a huge surprise for me - my sphere won an Excellence Award! That was truly an unexpected delight, and it gave me a happy buzz for the rest of the weekend. I still smile when I see the ribbon in my curio cabinet. It was nice to be recognized for pushing the envelope a bit on my carved pieces.














Keith Holt's work was right next to mine in the instant gallery. He turns a multi-axis form and then carves the mask.















A long, eventful day deserves a night cap, eh? It's always fun to visit in the hotel bar at the end of the day.

Jerry and Debbie Kermode









L to R: Mike and Jenny Mahoney, Gorst duPlessis











Ellis Wallentine (from Woodcentral) taking Mike Mahoney's picture.









L to R: Gorst duPlessis, Cliff Johns, and some folks I met, but I can't recall their names. No, it wasn't from imbibing too much wine, I'm just terrible with remembering names of people I've met only once.








There are more pics on my Facebook woodturning page: Friday AAW symposium album.

My "live" post from this day was: A totally awesome day.